N132-121 TITLE: Aerodynamic Dome Manufacturing Cost Reduction

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Materials/Processes, Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 259 AIM-9X

RESTRICTION ON PERFORMANCE BY FOREIGN CITIZENS (i.e., those holding non-U.S. Passports): This topic is "ITAR Restricted". The information and materials provided pursuant to or resulting from this topic are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120 - 130, which control the export of defense-related material and services, including the export of sensitive technical data. Foreign Citizens may perform work under an award resulting from this topic only if they hold the "Permanent Resident Card", or are designated as "Protected Individuals" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). If a proposal for this topic contains participation by a foreign citizen who is not in one of the above two categories, the proposal will be rejected.

OBJECTIVE: Improve the process of manufacturing hard ceramic infrared-transmitting domes with aerodynamic shapes such as a tangent ogive with a precise optical figure to reduce manufacturing cost and time.

DESCRIPTION: Aerodynamic infrared-transmitting domes reduce drag and increase the ability of a missile to survive flight through rain. The goal of this project is to improve precision optical manufacturing processes to reduce the cost and time of manufacturing such domes. Proposals might address the processes of making dome blanks, optical fabrication, metrology, or any combination of these activities.

A generic aerodynamic dome shape is a tangent ogive with a base diameter of 125 mm, a height of 175 mm, and a thickness of 3 mm. Actual shapes will be chosen by mutual agreement with the Government. Finished domes are expected to have a root-mean-square transmitted wavefront error of 200 nm or less. The baseline material is infrared-transparent polycrystalline alumina. Other hard ceramic materials could be selected by mutual agreement with the Government.

PHASE I: Evaluate approaches to reduce dome manufacturing cost and time and increase accuracy of optical figure. Demonstrate proof of principle of proposed approach and estimate how much time or cost would be reduced when the process is fully implemented.

PHASE II: Refine and implement manufacturing processes. In the case of dome blank fabrication or optical fabrication, demonstrate production of 4 domes by the improved procedure. If the effort focuses on metrology, demonstrate reduction in measurement time and/or improved accuracy in metrology. Demonstrate suitable feedback of metrology into iterative figure correction of an aerodynamic dome.

PHASE III: Implement manufacturing or metrology processes for commercial production.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Processes developed for aerodynamic dome manufacturing have potential to reduce the cost of manufacturing aspheric optics for civilian and space applications.

REFERENCES:
1. M. V. Parish, M. R. Pascucci, N. Corbin,, B. Puputti, G. Chery, and J. Small, "Transparent Ceramics for Demanding Optical Applications," Proc. SPIE 2011, Volume 8016, paper 80160B.

2. J. D. Nelson, A. Gould, D. Dworzanski, C. Klinger, B. Wiederhold, and M. Mandina, "Rapid Optical manufacturing of Hard Ceramic Conformal Windows and Domes," Proc. SPIE 2011, Volume 8016, paper 80160O.

3. S. Bambrick, M. Bechtold, S. DeFisher, and D. Mohring, "Ogive and Free-Form Polishing with UltraForm Finishing," Proc. SPIE 2011, Volume 8016, paper 80160P.

4. S. DeFisher, M. Bechtold, and D. Mohring, "A Non-Contact Surface Measurement System for Freeform and Conformal Optics," Proc. SPIE 2011, Volume 8016, paper 80160W.

5. M. Gutin, O. Gutin, X.-M. Wang, and D. Ehlinger, "Interferometric Tomography � A New Tool for Metrology on Conformal Optics," Proc. SPIE 2011, Volume 8016, paper 80160X.

KEYWORDS: aerodynamic dome; optical fabrication; metrology; ceramic fabrication; aspheric optics; infrared dome

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between April 24 through May 24, 2013, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 24, 2013, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

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